Reformed Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Missouri
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Do This in Remembrance of Me

Sermon Transcript

The following is a lightly edited transcript generated from the audio; it may contain small errors.

The Words of Institution

Before I take the Lord’s Supper, I wanted to talk about the Lord of the Supper, since it’s really about Jesus, amen? Here in Luke, and of course the institution, they call it, of the Lord’s Supper is in really all the Gospels, mainly the synoptics, although John gives a long description of this, dinner, but what are called the words of institution are actually in the synoptics, and Luke gives us this version of that evening. It says in Luke chapter 22 verse 14, When the hour had come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him. Then he said to them, With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took the cup and gave thanks and said, Take this and divide it among yourselves. For I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. The other synoptics give a very similar retelling of the last evening before Jesus was crucified. And I wanted to look this morning at the phrase that Jesus uses here, where he tells us that we are to do this meal in remembrance of Him, in verse 19. He says, do this in remembrance of me. And I wanna ask three questions today. And the first question is this. Why did Jesus give us a physical rite or a physical ordinance? Why did he institute a physical act that we are to do in remembrance of him? I think one of the reasons is that, as we talked about last week, when we talk about spiritual things, we tend to set up this two-story universe where spiritual things are kind of out there and we believe they’re real and God and Jesus and angels and demons, all these things, they’re there, we believe in them, but they’re kind of out there. There’s kind of this separating line between the spiritual and the physical. And of course, that’s not an accurate picture of the world. The spiritual world is present. Okay, Jesus says where two or three are gathered, I’m there. So he’s here. He might not be seen with the eyes, but He’s here. So God is here because he’s omniscient. Jesus is here. The Spirit’s here. Angels are here. Just some of us are visible and some are not. Some of us have physical material bodies and some of us do not. Some of them do not. Right? But it’s not as if because something is spiritual it’s distant. That’s deism. Something spiritual is very present. It’s just not seen or maybe it’s not felt with physical senses. So the Lord gives us a physical ordinance and he says, remember me by this physical act.

Why a Physical Rite?

And I think he’s doing this because we need to be reminded that the work of Jesus is not a story. It’s not literary symbolism. It is not mythology. The work of Jesus happened in real space-time history. When Jesus was hung on a cross, it was made out of wood. Real wood, real nails, a real body, real blood. It really happened. And it happened in the same space-time history that you and I inhabit now. The past is not something that is, the past that’s recounted in the Bible are not just literary stories, they’re a historical retelling of actual events that really happened in space-time. You know, that clipboard is really driving me crazy. Could you just hold on to it? Thank you. So the death of Jesus and His resurrection happened in space-time, in history. So in other words we are not deists and we are not Gnostics. We are Christians. Being saved doesn’t simply mean that we have adopted a certain set of ideas or philosophies regarding Jesus. Rather, it means that the salvation that is wrought by Jesus not only happened in this life, it’s also made manifest in this life. It’s real. You know, I believe the earth is relatively young. I don’t know how old, but I don’t think it’s billions of years old. And that might seem irrelevant to this conversation, but I was in my backyard doing something on the yard and I was thinking about God’s creation, you know? And I was digging up dirt. And as I held the dirt, it struck me that God made this. And I don’t think he made it all that long ago, but he made this. And it’s like the realization of that made the account in the garden very real. Very real. What happened when our parents fell into sin happened in this world. The curse that came upon them and their posterity is a curse on this world. When Jesus was born of a virgin and when he grew up as a child and then when he died on the cross and rose from the dead, he did it in this world, the same world we inhabit. Not a distant world, not a mythical world, not a story world, not a Narnia world, this world. This is why Christianity is faith that is founded on historical facts and this is so very important because sometimes the language we use about faith implies that by faith we create a reality. But that’s not true. By faith, we enter into reality. We see reality by faith. So we can see, figuratively of course, but we see God and Christ. We see his work, we see his power, we see things through the eyes of faith. These are things that happen in the same world that we inhabit, the same earth that we walk on today was walked on [audio unclear] alive to me. So we tend to talk about spiritual things in a really semi-Gnostic way.

And they become concepts and ideas and principles and they get divorced from concrete reality.

Faith in This World

Okay? That’s not biblical Christianity. We believe in a Savior that lived and died and rose again in this life. And when we receive Him and we become Christians, we become Christians in this life. It’s not like we, okay, I’m going to put my faith in Jesus and when I pass away thirty years from now I’ll be with Jesus. No, I believe in Jesus now and I meet Jesus now. I know Jesus now. I walk with Jesus now. Because He’s just as real, and He’s just as active in this life, in this world, as he was back then. Look at Matthew seven. No, don’t go to Matthew seven yet. We’ll get there in a minute. So when I talk about, when we talk about our faith being historical faith, we really mean it in two senses of the word. The first sense is that all the events that are recounted in Scripture, the events of creation, the events of redemption. These are not religious myths and ideas, but they’re a genuine retelling of events that happened in space-time. Acts of God in this world, the same physical world we now inhabit.

Historical Faith That Works

Their faith is also historical in the sense that through faith in these events, these historical events, this faith will show itself in works, in action, in deeds in the same physical space-time that we now live in. You follow me? That is, the physical aspect of the ordinance of communion knocks us out of the clouds of religious theory. You see, in the Bible, the wise man is not the theoretician. The wise man is not the man, the philosopher. The wise man is not the person who’s written the most books, nor the person who’s read the most books. The wise man is the person who lives according to knowledge. In other words, wisdom is not a possession simply of the mind. Wisdom is a possession and a manifestation of a life. So true faith is not theoretical opinion. The true test of our faith is a changed life, a life that produces good fruit here and now in space-time history.

You Will Know Them by Their Fruit

Now Matthew 7. Jesus says in Matthew 7, in verse 13, “…enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. And there are many who go into it, because narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way which leads to life. And there are few who find it. Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. Well, Jesus, how do I know if they’re dressed like sheep, if they look like sheep, how do I know if they’re sheep or not? He says, you will know them by their philosophy. You will know them by their theories. You will know them by their academic degrees. You will know them by their financial prosperity. No. You will know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

Jesus lays it down, folks. This is so simple a child can understand it. And yet we make it all complicated. It’s not complicated. If the fruit is bad, the root is bad. It’s that simple. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. This is the consistent teaching of the scripture. But a life of faith produces a life which is characterized by good works. And if there are no works, there is no faith. If there are bad works, there is bad faith. Do you understand what I’m saying? It’s not complicated.

Be Doers of the Word

Look at James 1. James essentially says the same thing. It’s chapter 1. Y’all there? He says in verse 21, therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness. James 1.21, and receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. But if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror and he observes himself, goes away and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty, he continues in it and is not forgetful, is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart? This one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. He gives examples of this basic principle of being a doer and not a hearer only. He says in 2:14, What does it profit, my brethren, If someone says he has faith but does not have works, can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food and one of you says to them, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? The person says, be warmed and filled. This is the religion of the lips. This is a talking religion. This is the religion of knowing things and saying things and even saying the right things, but not a religion of doing the right things. Verse 17, thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. Well, some will say, You have faith, and I have works. Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

Profess or Produce

Look at the book of Titus. Paul echoes this same theme of Jesus and James. Here in Titus, he says, he’s talking about Crete. And he says in verse 10 of chapter 1, he says, Chapter 1, he says, there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert the whole household, teaching things they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience are defiled.“ Note verse 16, they profess, there’s the mouth, they profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. So they said the right things. I believe in Jesus, but they lived in a way that was inconsistent with saying I believe in Jesus. Now notice chapter 2 of Titus verse 11, for the grace of God that has appeared, that brings salvation, has appeared to all, teaching us, us, you and I, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works.” It’s good, isn’t it? He says here that this grace that has appeared to us that we profess to have received This grace teaches us to live—notice verse 12—teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, when? When we get to heaven? In this present age, in this space time history in this moment today. You see, the Cretans professed faith but did not produce good works. The Pharisees paraded their faith but did not produce good works. Even the demons parodied faith but did not produce good works. So the question is, what about us? Do we profess or produce? Do we parade or produce? Do we parody or produce? We can only answer this question by taking a candid look at our lives in this present age.

The Passover Illustration

In the here and now. In the flesh and blood. In our acts, not our words. In our doing the word, not our hearing only. Because as Jesus said, there is no other test. The only way to know the quality of the tree is to look at the quality of the fruit. There is no other test. It’s not how much scripture you can quote. It’s not how many books you’ve read. It is not theorizing. It is living. It is living according to the revealed will of God. You see? I mean, can you, you know, when we take the Lord’s Supper, we’re actually, in a way, reenacting. [audio unclear] They had to do all of these. Now imagine you have a Jewish family that says, I believe in Jehovah, so well, but we love our lambs a whole lot, so we’re not going to kill it, but we still believe in Jehovah, and we don’t want to hurt our little Lambie, right? Our little Lambie, and we don’t want to shed his blood and put it on the doorpost, but we still believe. So we just kind of do our own little meal, and we’ll have our lamb join us. We love Jehovah, we believe in him. So when the angel of death came, what would have happened to that home? The firstborn would have died. Because in spite of their faith, they weren’t doing what Jehovah said. You see, the Passover was an expression of, but it included physical acts. Same way with the meal. The Lord gave us a physical rite. He wants us to take the bread and put it in our mouth, take the wine and drink it. Because he wants to remind us that true faith is a living, active thing.

Living and active. Do this in remembrance of me. And what we truly believe we do, not only do we do the Lord’s Supper, but we do in our lives. We live the faith that we profess.

Why This Ordinance?

Second question, why did Jesus give us this ordinance? He said, do this in remembrance of me. Why not foot washing? Why not another ordinance to celebrate Pentecost? Why do you say, do this in remembrance of me? Well, there are probably many reasons, but let me just mention one, and that is this: that this rite, this ordinance of what we call communion or the Lord’s Supper, this is the ordinance that reminds us that salvation is by Christ alone, and it’s received by faith alone. This ordinance is the summary. We could say that this ordinance symbolizes the foundation of everything that we believe.

Strange Fire and the Atonement

Because of Jesus Christ, when I say His atonement, I mean His blood sacrifice on a cross. A cross made out of wood. Jesus had a physical body. He had real human blood in His body. He died on the cross. The blood was shed. The blood made an atonement for sin before God. This is the central fact of our faith. Because if there’s no atonement, there’s no reconciliation to God. There is no relationship with God without an atonement. I want to read a quote from this. This is a wonderful book on the tabernacle. And the author talks about the various offerings and things. He’s talking about the Day of Atonement. And if you recall, there’s a real historical story about Nadab and Abihu.

And if you remember, what they did is they offered strange fire before the Lord. These were Aaron’s sons, and God struck them dead. And this is what the author says. He says, Fire had come out from before the Lord, and it consumed the sacrifices upon the altar. These two eldest sons of Aaron should have taken coals of burning fire from off that altar fire which had come from the Lord. You understand this? Okay, so the ordinance was that when the the the priests were to take hot coals from a fire that God started, okay, because God sent his fire down to consume the sacrifices And so God started a fire. They were to take coals from God’s fire for the other sacrifices. Well, but instead of this, they put fire in their censers which was common to them but strange to the Lord, meaning they kindled their own fire and they didn’t take God’s coals. He says, maybe not regarded this as another form of Cain worship, another warning against the Unitarianism or Socinianism of the day, Cain offered an offering without the shedding of blood. His was a religion of works, though the name of the Lord was in it. His was not the worship of a false God, listen, but it was the false worship of the true God. Worship which was not preceded by salvation. Nadab and Abihu were quite correct as to the censer, the incense, and the holy place, but they did not recognize that it was the fire from God which fed upon the sacrifices, and that no fragrance could come up to him from the hands even of his priests unless through the sacrifice consumed in judgment on the altar. Christ may be owned as a true Christ. He may even be confessed with the lips as the Son of God. Prayer and worship may be conducted in His name. But unless his death be acknowledged and trusted in, as a death in the way of atonement, a death not meritorious only because of his fortitude and meekness of grace, but of unspeakable value because God laid iniquity upon him, and he suffered at the hands of God who made his soul an offering for sin, unless this be owned, meaning believed, the worshipper, whoever he be, is offering strange fire, mingled though it may be with the name of Christ.“ True words. To worship God and to worship even Jesus apart from faith in the atonement is to offer God strange fire. Why? It is through the atonement of Jesus only—say the word only—only that we have access to the Father. It is not Jesus plus our works, Jesus plus our faith, Jesus plus the sacraments.

Jesus Only

It is Jesus only that is the way to God. He said, I am the way. He didn’t say, hey boys, we are the way. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.” Meaning no one comes to the Father apart from my atoning blood. Because no one can be accepted by the Father unless their sins and iniquity have been put away by the blood of the Son of God. Listen: everything, everything contained in that word salvation, everything contained in it, comes to us through Christ and His cross. Everything. We stand in grace, we’re told in Romans 5. We are reconciled to God. We were enemies. We now have peace with God. We stand in God’s favor. We are accepted in the beloved. We have been justified. We are no longer guilty. There’s no condemnation to those who are in Jesus Christ. We are called, we are going to be glorified in heaven. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus because of the blood of Jesus. Every blessing that we have in the heavenlies according to Ephesians 1, and every blessing we have in the earthlies, our jobs, our money, our health, our family, everything we have is a gift through the atonement of Jesus Christ. In Colossians 2, we are—well, turn there. Go to Colossians. In Colossians, Paul is bragging about Jesus. And he says in chapter 1, he says in verse 15 of chapter 1, he says, He, meaning Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence. For it pleased the Father that all the fullness should dwell in Him. And by Him, verse 20, to reconcile all things to Himself, by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. And then he goes on and says in chapter 2, verse 9, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power. The Colossians were seeking all other remedies. They were pursuing religion. They were pursuing philosophy. They were pursuing the mix of both. And they were not pursuing Jesus. Jesus Christ is what our faith is about. We don’t believe in Christianity, we believe in Jesus. Jesus is the foundation of our faith. He is the goal of our faith. It’s all about Jesus. That’s why Paul says in Philippians 3 that he was willing to count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ.

The Unsearchable Riches of Christ

And that the riches of Christ, he says in Ephesians, are unsearchable. Listen, we are like people who are living in poverty while we’re right under our homes, there’s an oil well worth millions of dollars. We are like people who have hidden treasures in our basements, but we just don’t take the time to go and open the treasure chest. Because there is a wealth of true knowledge, a wealth of joy, a wealth of power, a wealth that is given to us because we have Jesus Christ. We need to remember this, don’t we? We need to remember this, that Jesus is what our faith is really about. We need to come back to Jesus. We need to simplify some things and put Jesus back in the place and put Jesus back in the place in our hearts and our lives that he really deserves. Because I can assure you, friend, if you’re seeking remedies elsewhere, you will not find them. Your remedy is Jesus Christ.

Why a Repeated Rite? We Forget

Last quickly, third question. Why? First question is why did the Lord give us a rite? Secondly, why did He give us a physical rite? Why did He give us a repeated rite? In other words, baptism we only do once, right? This we’re supposed to do frequently. Some people think every week. Some people think daily. Some people, you know, communion is something you repeat. Why? Why a repeated rite? I think the answer is pretty clear. And that is, we forget. I mean, Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me. In other words, because you forget me. In other words, we need to be reminded of the heart of the gospel. We need to be reminded that the foundation of our faith is the work of Christ. Look, you can talk about grace all day long, that you believe you’re saved by grace, but the fact of the matter is, many of us live by law. If the true thoughts of our hearts were exposed, [audio unclear] Do you [audio unclear] “care about me, and God has forgotten me”? [audio unclear] “…the things of old which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. For He…” [audio unclear] God has established this ordinance to remind us of the work of Jesus that we would not forget the works of God.

But that we would embrace them and that we would pass them on to our children and even to our grandchildren. So we must continually be brought back to the foundation of it all, which is Jesus Christ himself. Amen.

Hymn and Closing Prayer

I’d like to close with the words of this hymn. Chief of sinners, though I be, Jesus shed his blood. For me, died that I might live on high, lived that I might never die. As the branch is to the vine, I am His, and He is mine. [audio unclear] Love that found me—wondrous thought! Found me when I sought Him not. Jesus only can impart balm to heal the smitten heart. Peace that flows from sin forgiven, joy that lifts the soul to heaven. Faith and hope to walk with God in the way that Enoch trod. Chief of sinners though I be, Christ is all in all to me. All my wants to Him are known, all my sorrows are His own. Safe with him from earthly strife, he sustains the hidden life. O my Savior, help afford by thy spirit and thy word. When my wayward heart would stray, keep me in the narrow way. Grace in time of need supply while I live and when I die. Jesus, we thank You that You are all in all. Thank You, Lord Jesus that you are the pearl of great price, the hidden treasure, and that by knowing you we experience the riches of all that the Father wants to give us. I pray Lord that today we would be encouraged to seek you anew, to seek you more fervently.

I pray Lord that as we remember you today, as we take the elements that you bless the elements to our souls, that our faith would be emboldened, that our faith would grow and that you would be to us the savior that you truly are. We pray all this in your name. Amen.

Invitation to the Table

So if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, we invite you to the Lord’s table and take the elements.